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2017 NFL Season
Overview The 2017 NFL (National Football League) Season was the 57th season since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. During this season, it is said that the NFL entered a new generation of Quarterbacks- with many Older Quarterbacks such as Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers beginning to regress and new superstars and dominant teams becoming commonplace. Division by Division Here's what Happened division by division: Left column- playoff seed (if they made it) middle column- team name right column- team's record AFC North The AFC North in 2017 was one of the strongest divisions in football, with the division race not being decided until the very end of the year. The year started with 3 teams- Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cincinnati- duking it out for the division title. Through the 1st half of the season, the Bengals appeared to be sitting on the bottom of the 3, being a full game behind the Steelers and Ravens. After the Steelers beat the Ravens in a highly-anticipated week 16 matchup, the Bengals took 2nd place in the AFC North. Both the Bengals and Ravens were originally in line for wild cards to give the AFC North 3 playoff teams, however the Ravens lost again in week 17 to fall to 9-7. Despite a Bengals win in week 17 over Baltimore that pulled them to 10-6, the Bengals still missed the playoffs due to losing a head-to-head matchup over Denver in week 1. The Steelers, which finished a full game ahead of the Bengals, took the division title for a 2nd straight year as they made the playoffs once again as a 3 seed. AFC South The AFC South saw a interesting set of changes in the 2017 Season. The Texans were the preseason favorite to win the AFC South for a 3rd straight year in a mediocre division. This is, until the Texans surprising Quarterback race saw Tom Savage defeat Brock Osweiler for the starting position at Quarterback. Tom Savage did pretty well, better than Osweiler, but a overall injured team stopped the Texans from making the playoffs. None the less, Savage carried the Texans to a mediocre 8-8 record by throwing for 3,300 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. The real standout in the AFC South, however, was Tennessee, which made major improvements to the secondary in the offseason by trading an extra 1st round pick away for Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters and offering better Wide Receivers for Marcus Mariota via the draft, the Titans ran a very all-around balanced offense that gave NFL Defenses problems, most notably Houston, which Tennessee swept. The Titans finished with a 11-5 record and a bye week with the #2 overall seed. The Colts were a decent surprise, with a healthy Andrew Luck that saw Luck in the MVP race as one of the league's best Quarterbacks. The Colts started shaky but quickly pulled their act together, gradually improving, notably beating the Houston Texans. The Colts pulled into a division tie with Tennessee, but quickly fell a game behind once more after a upset by the New York Jets in overtime. The Jacksonville Jaguars were no surprise under new head coach Sean McDaniels, the Jaguars were in a rebuilding phase, finishing at 5-11, with 3 wins in the final 5 weeks, left some positive vibe for the Jaguars next season. AFC East The AFC East was the division with the most obvious changes from 2016 to 2017. The division featured many surprises. The Patriots were the obvious favorite, having won the AFC East all but one time since it's creation in 2002. The Patriots went on the surprise many, however. With Tom Brady's age becoming a factor, the Patriots got off to a shaky 2-2 start before Tom Brady fractured his foot in the week 5 matchup against Denver. Denver won the game in a 30-7 rout as Jimmy Garappolo came in as the Patriots starter. New England did noticeably better under Garappolo, rebounding from a 2-3 start to win 3 straight under Garappolo, which pulled the Patriots to a 5-3 record and 1-game division lead entering the latter half of the season. Tom Brady returned from injury and suffered from noticeably bad play. The Patriots won just 1 of their final 8 games to finish 6-10, missing the playoffs for only the 2nd time under Bill Belicheck. The Bills were mediocre once again under Rex Ryan, finishing 7-9. Tannehill had a down year and 2nd season ending injury in 2 years as the Dolphins also finished 7-9, but in 3rd place due to division records. Perhaps the surprise of the AFC East was the New York Jets, which were average and consistent throughout the season under rookie Quarterback-Running Back duo of Leonard Fournette and DeShaun Watson. Also over the offseason, Matt Forte was turned into trade bait that saw the Jets land DeSean Jackson from the Washington Redskins. The Jets remained consistent, but average, throughout the season. Ultimately, the Jets won the most division games, and finished 7-9, thus winning the division and heading to the Playoffs under a rookie Quarterback while becoming the 3rd NFL team in history to make the playoffs with a losing record. AFC West The AFC West remained very similar. The Oakland Raiders got off to a historic 7-1 start, but started to level off under numerous upsets late, but still holding on to the division by a game, and the AFC's #1 seed via tiebreaker over the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers. The 2nd place team in the West was Denver, who rebounded late under the play of Quarterback Paxton Lynch, who was put in after a 4-4 start under Trevor Siemian. Denver rebounded late, in an attempt to make the playoffs, and beat the surging Kansas City Chiefs in week 16 to edge into the 6th playoff spot. They remained there after winning to get to 10-6, beating out the Bengals via head to head tiebreaker. Kansas City started 1-5, only to rebound by winning 8 straight, but falling just short after losing to Denver in week 16. San Diego remained consistently horrible under Philip Rivers, with Melvin Gordon tearing his ACL in the preseason, and finished 3-13 with the NFL's worst offense. NFC North The NFC North was one of the few status quo divisions in 2017- One of the few divisions to remain similar from previous years. The favorites to do well were Green Bay and Minnesota, and this stuck quite well, with Green Bay and Minnesota dueling it out for the division title. Green Bay held the lead for most of the season, and clinched after beating Minnesota in week 16. Minnesota played the whole season near .500, until upsetting the New York Giants in the season's final game to snag the 6th seed in the playoffs. The Lions were truly average, being slightly worse from the loss of QB Matthew Stafford early in the season for 2 games. The Bears were truly horrible, aftering drafting project DeShone Kizer to become the next starting Quarterback. After the Bears elimination from the playoffs, the Bears started DeShone Kizer, who did decent. NFC South The NFC South went backwards in time back to 2015 once again, but to a less extreme. At the Beginning, Carolina, Atlanta, and New Orleans were stuck in a close race for the division, with each being 5-3 through 8 games. The Saints quickly regressed late season behind Drew Brees, winning only 1 of the last 8 games to finish 6-10. The Falcons did not regress late-season unlike previous years, finishing 10-6 and gaining a wild card behind Matt Ryan. The ultimate change from 2016 to 2017 was the Carolina Panthers, who rebounded from a lousy 2016 Performance to Finish 11-5 after Cam Newton threw for 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. NFC East The NFC East maintained the status quo, being one of the few divisions to maintain it's exact placing from 2016. Dallas sat on top, led by 2nd year Quarterback Dak Prescott, the Cowboys did worse than 2016 but it was enough to wrap the division and a playoff home game. The Giants struggled early, but came back late to nearly make the playoffs, only to be upset by Minnesota, thus shooting down the Giants playoff chances. Washington and Philadelphia both have similar seasons to 2016. NFC West The NFC West remained strong throughout the season. Seattle was a frontrunner from the start, and regressed slightly close to the end of the year, but finished 12-4 and wrapped up the NFC West 3 weeks before the end of the season. The Rams struggled early but began to show promising signs late under Jared Goff, finishing 7-9. Despite Arizona's 4-0 start, the Cardinals fell to rock bottom by winning only 2 of their last 12 and finishing 6-10. San Fran became consistent thanks to a 3-3 finish under rookie Quarterback Mitch Tribusky, bringing promising signs ahead. 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